It is Lent, the time to draw closer to God, to open the door to our heart . As we focus on the voice of God, we begin to hear His whispers and His desire to love us and communicate with us.

We stand before the Cross, longing for a deeper communion with God. First we must allow Him to wash the mud off our souls and spirits, to bring good out of every trauma, wound, and sin.

For God deemed it better to bring good out of evil than not to permit it at all.” –St. Augustine.

WHY? We must come to the realization that we need a Saviour. It usually takes, even Contemplative Monks decades to finally let go of the last of their pride and to humbly surrender control. Pride makes us try to earn our salvation with good works.

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” -Ephesians 2:8,9

Words to Ponder

Catholics think of Lent, they think of ascetic fasting and heroic acts of the saints but God has finally gotten through to me. I cannot earn His love or Presence. He must do everything in me. This is true humility.

Pride entices me to work harder, pray more, fast religiously and perform heroic acts of virtue. Humility accepts that only God can save me and other people. It is my job simply to surrender in prayer and give Him permission to flow through me how ever and when ever He wants.

Check out the Lent reflections participating in the Keep LOVE in LENT Blog Link-Up 2013! We’ll be sharing different ways, tips, stories and real-life experiences that will help us focus on Lenten sacrifices, prayer and good deeds, and how to carry them out with LOVE instead of a GRUMBLE.

Share this:

Like this:

Published by melanie jean juneau

Melanie Jean Juneau serves as the Editor in Chief of Catholic Stand. She is a mother of nine children who has edited her kid's university term papers for over a decade. She blogs at joy of nine9 and mother of nine9. Her writing is humorous and heart warming; thoughtful and thought-provoking. Part of her call and her witness is to write the truth about children, family, marriage and the sacredness of life. Melanie is the administrator of ACWB, a columnist at CatholicLane, CatholicStand, Catholic365 , CAPC, author of Echoes of the Divine and Oopsy Daisy, and coauthor of Love Rebel: Reclaiming Motherhood.
View all posts by melanie jean juneau

You are so right! Humility is the true key to imitating Christ- yet I always think it is up to me to be perfect in all my Lenten endeavors. Yours is such a beautiful and inspiring blog- every time I visit I am touched.

With all the blessings that He has given me and my family, Lent is really a time to be grateful for all of these blessings. Humility keeps us all in check and keeps us on the path of striving harder to do things for God’s greater glory 🙂

Great reflections… I think this is something all of us need to strive for, but something very rarely attained. As long as we’re content walking the journey at God’s pace for each of us… It reminds me of the quote of John the Baptist – “that he may increase and I may decrease…”

I love that quote about faith from Ephesians. Sr. Catherine from iBenedictines offered to assign her readers a book from the Bible to focus on during Lent, and she gave me Ephesians. I find it a bit difficult to read (St Paul writes very very very long sentences!), but the beautiful phrases in there make it worth the effort. I also like “He chose us, in Him, before the foundation of the world”. Thank you for the wonderful reminder to soften our hearts with humility this Lent. A blessed Lent to you and your family!

The whole focus is Christ. Isn’t it funny how even Lent can bring out the most human of us? Sometimes our intentions are just man-made will power instead of God’s workmanship in us that he started, and he intends to finish. Thanks for this post.

Each sentence is so thought provoking, I especially felt that “First we must allow Him to wash the mud off our souls and spirits, to bring good out of every trauma, wound, and sin.” spoke to me. To allow Him to wash the mud off my soul this lent, and not let pride get in the way. That’s enough to stop the grumbling! Praise God- thank you for sharing these powerful words. Blessings to you this lent!

Enjoying our quotes and reflections. Truth of it is, is that He does need our permission. He won’t force us to have a relationship with Him. Thankfully, He doesn’t give up on us or only give us a couple of chances to open our hearts to Him and say “yes!” May God continue to lead you in the path He has planned for you and may He shower you with His abundant graces and blessings!

I was touched by Ellen Fassbender’s Lent aspirations for this year in https://peacefulheartopenmind.blogspot.my/ – a call to focus on a personal failing/weakness and a Biblical reflection on that weakness in the form of a single Bible verse. She has made it so simple – for every wound, a holy salve; for every pain, hope.